Internally illuminated outdoor signs are known and are employed for a wide variety of purposes. Such signs usually take the form of a box-like housing structure with one or both sides constituting frames for translucent sign display panels. Fluorescent lamps are mounted within the interior of the sign, and these are used to illuminate the translucent display panels. The peripheral frame surrounding each of the display panels is mounted to the corresponding side of the housing, and the frame supplies the necessary structural strength to the display panel. The box-like housing provides an enclosure for the fluorescent lamps which illuminate the display panels, and it also provides an enclosure for the electrical wiring and other components associated with the lamps.
Aluminum extrusions of various shapes and sizes are commonly employed in the prior art to construct outdoor signs of the type referred to in the preceding paragraph, such a construction being described, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,235,989 and 4,007,552. A principal objective of the present invention is to provide an outdoor sign which is constructed of aluminum extrusions, or other appropriate material, and which is particularly conceived to overcome problems encountered in the manufacture and use of the prior art assemblies.
One feature of the sign of the present invention lies in the attachment of the frames of the display panels to the housing portion of the assembly. In accordance with the invention, each such frame is hinged to the housing in such a manner as to enable each display panel to be opened to permit access to the interior of the housing without the need for hand holes which have a tendency to leak light and moisture; and also the hinge construction is such that each display panel may be removed from the housing for the purposes set forth above.
Another feature of the invention lies in the construction of the housing itself, and of the frames for the display panels which are hinged to the housing, which construction permits flexible sign material forming the display panel to be clamped and held in a taut condition on the frame without any tendency to bow the frame.
Other features of the assembly of the invention include complete flexibility for either single-faced or double-faced signs, and which permits the use of either rigid translucent sign material, such as Plexiglass or an acrylic plastic for the display panels, or flexible translucent sign material such as the material marketed by the 3M Company under the trademark "Panaflex".
Further features of the invention include the fact that the sign can be economically assembled to any desired height or width usually without welding, without exterior screws, and with a minimal number of extrusions, and with many of the extrusions used in the assembly having the same shape to facilitate the extrusion process.